Products packaged for sale are generally packaged in various materials and bear various distinctive designs, marks, pictures, logos, decorative elements, instructions, and information from the manufacturer (hereafter “symbolics”). Often the consumer package contains multiple individual pieces of the product, which individual pieces may be separately packaged bearing symbolics.
The nearly universal method of packaging consists of placing one item of the product in an appropriate individual package, which package surfaces bear symbolics identifying the products. The individual packages are then assembled into a consumer or retail package which also bears symbolics identifying the products. The consumer packages are often assembled into a carton that is frequently used to ship and display several retail packages. The individual package generally bears the minimal necessary information on the products, and is often limited to the name of the products, its quantity, some data on the enterprise, manufacturer, date of production, and similar readable information. The consumer package generally bears more information, which includes in many cases, pictures, logos representing the manufacturer, and decorative elements which are traditionally inherent for a package of the particular kind and grade of the products. For both the consumer package and the individual package, the information may be placed on packaging surfaces directly, or it may be placed on any carrier affixed on a surface of individual packing, or it may be stitched on as a label for the products. Depending on the products involved and the preferences of the manufacturer, the packaging can be soft as used for toilet paper, or hard as the metal container used for some cookies. The carton usually bears only the basic identifying information about the product, and the consumer packages are generally not arranged in any particular order in the carton.
For example, for daily use and household products, the customer package for food and liquid products may be glass or plastic bottles, boxes, rigid packages and other vessels, and for granular products they may be boxes, packages and other suitable containers. The individual packaging may be paper or polymeric envelopes for the formed piece products, for example, for soap pieces.
By way of further example, paper based hygienic products like table napkins, towels, handkerchiefs, toilet paper, and the like are often manufactured and packaged in a manner that is identical and homogeneous, i.e., with identical color, texture, and pictures. Pampers, sanitary napkins, linings, and similar single use hygienic products also come to the retail trade in assemblies of individual products contained in a consumer package. The hygienic product contained within the consumer package may or may not have individual packaging.
By way of further example, confectionary products such as cookies, candies, sweets, chocolate in bars, chocolate in pieces, chewing gum slices, and similar products commonly are sold in consumer packages containing separately wrapped pieces protecting the individual products.
By way of further example, homogenous food stuffs such as single use tea packs, cheese slices, sausage, soft drinks, beer, and similar items are often separately packaged and incorporated into common packaging and made available for selection and consumption by the customer. Beer, for example, is individually packaged in cans, the cans are assembled in six-packs as a retail package, and four retail six-packs are often assembled in a case. Other homogenous food stuffs are supplied to the retail trade packaged in individual packages for use by customers. For example, single use portions of ketchup in individual packages are sold in bulk to fast food restaurants to make ketchup available for customer use on hamburgers. Even fast food can be sold to the customer in individual packages. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,094,863 discloses packaging fast food in flexible packaging whose surface bears identifying symbolics and also images in the form of drawings and diagrams.
By way of further example, tobacco products are often wrapped in thin paper, and sold at retail in packages of 10 pieces or more. Those retail packages are shipped and sometimes sold in cartons. Some cigarettes are individually packaged in a hygienic protector which is removed before use. Cigars are packed for the retail trade in packs generally containing 3–5 pieces, and those retail packages are shipped and sometimes sold in cigar boxes.
By way of further example, condoms are typically placed in individual packages, and then placed in retail packages containing multiple, separately packaged condoms.
All of the above packaging traditionally functions to identify a manufacturer's products of a given kind and grade, and to allow the customer to identify the products and distinguish them from similar ones by competitors. However, despite all the effort by manufacturers to make their products interesting and informative to the customer, and to distinguish their product from the competitors, all packages of a manufacturer's product are essentially the same. Consumers are accustomed to seeing each package of the product with the same images, text, colors, instructions, and the like.
There is no method in the art for providing the consumer with varying images on the individual package, the consumer package, or the carton in such a manner that the consumer is likely to see a different image on each purchase or use of a product during a selected period of time. The principle of placing images which are not the identifying symbolics on a surface of various sorts of the products, or on their package, or on elements of the package, is known in the art. In particular, the images are placed on a surface of a toilet paper (see French patent application FR 2172929, IPC G 09 F 23/00, 1973), table napkins (see U.S. Pat. No. 5,573,830, IPC D 04 H 1/64, 1996), single cloths (see French utility certificate FR 2095115, IPC G 09 F 23/00, 1972), lottery tickets (see Russian patent RU 2093903, IPC G 09 F 23/14, 1997), post envelopes (see Russian patent 2099798, IPC G 09 F 23/10, 1997), cigarette packages (see European patent EP 0646531, IPC B 65 D 85/10, 1997), and other products. Most of the above patents relate to dissemination of advertising information. The advertising business is such that the efficiency of any advertising depends directly on its repetition of identical statements and/or images.
There two methods known in the art for providing the consumer with varying images on the individual package, however neither of these methods result in the consumer being likely to see a different image on each product purchased or used. The candy industry uses homogenous consumer packages containing shaped candy pieces, each bearing terse sayings, commonly sold under the trademark “Sweethearts.” The sayings appear to be randomly distributed in the consumer package, and Applicant has no knowledge of any effort by the manufacturer to make it likely that the sayings in the consumer package do not repeat. The second method is used for individual servings of sugar and sweeteners. The servings are individually wrapped in packages that bear different images, often along a theme of flowers or places. Like the “Sweethearts,” the distribution of the images appears to be random. Applicant has no knowledge of any effort by the manufacturers to make it likely that the images seen by the consumer do not repeat.
There is a need to present the customer with packages that readily identify the products contained therein while increasing customer demand and loyalty by making the contents attractive by placing varying pictures, images, symbols, text, and the like on the packages. To maintain customer interest, the additional images on the packages should not be identical, and should not repeat during a predetermined purchasing or use cycle by the consumer. Despite the tremendous amount of money and effort spent worldwide to attract and maintain customer interest in products, no system or method has been found in the prior art to accomplish this objective.
Therefore, it can be appreciated that there exists a need for a method to provide the customer with varied and non-repeating images on packages over a predetermined purchasing or use cycle. The object of the invention is to provide the above in a simple form that is easy to make and economical to manufacture.